When You Were Young
by Apathyisdeath
Summary: What if Bao-Dur did know the Exile before the war? Maybe he did, but he just didn't know she was that cute little girl he met swinging through the trees with a young Mical on Dantooine.
1. My long lost canteen

Dantooine. A planet that was, and still is, a world of grasslands, rivers and lakes. It was nearing the end of another warm summer, with early sunrises and late sunsets. The sun was at its highest peak as a small shuttle pushed itself away from the planet. The sun elongated a lone shadow that stood by its owner. A young Zabrak, with his vestigial horns newly crowning his head, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his left arm. Next to him whirred and beeped a remote. The remote seemed somewhat nervous to be surrounded by so many Jedi.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Bao-Dur reassured the small droid "I'll make sure they don't use you in their lightsaber training." The remote whimpered nervously. Bao-Dur chuckled to himself.

"C'mon," he laughed. The remote followed its master towards where he was headed.

Bao-Dur had come to Dantooine to finally leave Iridonia and follow his dream of becoming a Tech Specialist. There was some sort of ridiculous summer camp that offered teenage Zabraks the chance to pursue their goals and break the idea that every Zabrak was a single-minded, arrogant schutta. Probably ran by some Basic-loving creature, Bao-Dur thought. He gasped quietly, realising how hot the throbbing sun made the day.

"Sure is hot on Dantooine, huh, buddy?" Bao-Dur tried to laugh to Remote. The orb-like droid clicked his response back and they kept walking.

After what felt like hours of walking, Bao-Dur sighed half-heartedly. He reached for the small canteen of water that was naturally clipped to his belt but his hand was met by thin air. Bao-Dur groaned to himself. He was defiant that he would not get angry, so instead gulped down fresh air to try and quench his thirst. He tried to calmly place himself on a nearby stump. It didn't work. Bao-Dur cupped his head in his hands and made a noise that could only mean he was annoyed. Warm weather, no water and an annoying landscape of nothing but trees upon trees. Wait, trees? Bao-Dur peeped through his fingers. He didn't remember any mention of a forest being on Dantooine. His holopad on visiting Dantooine had only said that there were rivers and lakes, not forests. Bao-Dur dug his fingers in to his forehead, desperate to control his climbing anger.

As Bao-Dur tried to calm down and cool off in the sticky weather, he noticed something. He heard a noise to his left. It was very close. It had been kind of like a thudding noise, as if someone or something was near him. He moved his hands from his face and gazed curiously towards where the noise had come from, only to be met by complete silence. With another sigh, he returned his cool hands to his face and closed his eyes. There it was again, the thudding noise. This time, Bao-Dur ignored it.

He could hear strange noises coming from the blba trees. Noises that did not interest him, like muffled laughter and conversation. It did not interest him in the slightest. He just wanted some peace and quiet. Bao-Dur heard the thudding sound again, this time much closer to him than it had before. He forced his eyes shut as far as they would go and gritted his teeth together.

"Lost this?" Came a childish and girly voice from in front of him. He whipped the hands away from his eyes and fell backwards off the blba tree stump in suprise. Bao-Dur heard hysterical giggles coming from in front of him that could only be made by a little girl.

"Woopsy!" She laughed. Bao-Dur tried to glare at the girl, but it was hard. She was small with big, blue eyes and a short blond plait that barely reached her shoulders. She was wearing a casual beige tunic and pants, usually sported by civilians. And in her hands she clutched his estranged canteen. She then knelt in front of him and shook the canteen in his face.

"Missing something?" The little girl grinned a smile with her baby teeth apparent. Bao-Dur hesitated before taking the canteen.

"W-yes. How did you-where was-" Bao-Dur began, only to be cut off by the girl.

"I didn't find it," she told him matter-of-factly "My new best friend did." Bao-Dur raised his eyebrows before taking a long awaited gulp of the canteen.

There was another thump in the area of some closely-planted blba trees. Bao-Dur made to stand up but the little girl just waved him as if to say it was no big deal. The expression on his face was one of bewilderment. Without turning to look at him, instead craning her neck to try and see past the thick trees, the child said,

"Don't worry. That's my friend. He falls off things alot." She added the last part almost to herself in a worried way. As soon as she finished her sentence, a small figure appeared from the gathering of trees. It was a small blond boy, quite alot smaller than the girl, with what eventually could be handsome features. He emerged rubbing the back of his head, as if in pain. The girl pursed her lips as if to stop herself laughing.

"Are you ok, Mical?" She asked warily. The boy named Mical nodded and raised his head to look at Bao-Dur.

"This is our new friend, Mical," the little girl chirped proudly. Mical looked at his friend and then back at Bao-Dur. He looked surprised that they had managed to find someone who had not ran away from them as soon as they could. Mical edged closer to the girl, as if scared of the stranger before him.

"Who is he, Trija?" He tried to say under his breath "He's scary." The girl called Trija looked at Mical with an astonished expression. She cupped her hand around her mouth and lent into his ear to reply.

"Yep, but he's cool! Look," Trija brandished the water canteen. "It's his bottle you found." Mical moved shyly away from Trija and towards Bao-Dur.

"H-hello," he stammered, looking at the floor. Bao-Dur had a quizzical look on his face, but replaced it with a small smile.


	2. Mr Horny Man

Trija laughed and almost galloped to be beside her friend Mical. He kept looking anxiously at Bao-Dur, as if he would jump up and bundle them into the back of a landspeeder. Bao-Dur realised he was still sat on the damp, mossy floor, so he hoisted himself up to be back on his tree stump. He felt it would be too rude to leave these children now. After all, they might be lost. Trija linked her arm through Mical's arm, at which the little boy blushed profusely. It was Bao-Dur's turn to speak:  
"So...thank you for finding my canteen," he began awkwardly "Er...do you need help getting home?" Mical seemed to lose his anxiety and started to smile at Bao-Dur. Trija just shook her head wildly.  
"No!" She laughed, as if the very idea of them being lost was hilarious. It seemed quite possible to Bao-Dur, though. "We can find our way back. Master Kavar is looking for us. But we're hiding." She pressed a finger to her lips.  
"So, er, do you know where I can find Dantari Planes?" Asked Bao-Dur, referring to where the Zabrak camp supposedly was. Trija gasped and nodded.  
"Oh, yes! That is near our Enclave. We can show you. If you promise not to rat us out to Kavar." Trija whispered the last part, and looked around wildly as if someone might be listening in. Mical giggled along with her, until Bao-Dur stopped them.  
"Erm...promise?" He said, sounding as if the idea was completely bizarre.  
"Yep. Pinky swear it, sir!" Trija laughed, unlinking Mical and stepping forwards to offer him her pinky.

Bao-Dur sighed to himself once again. He reluctantly linked his pinky finger with the little girl, who then whooped in celebration.  
"Yey! No more lessons!" She cheered. Mical joined in her cheering, both jumping for joy at the same moments. Bao-Dur stood up to leave. He wanted to be early so he could choose where he was going to sleep, but now he was probably going to be late and stuck with sharing a bed with a complete stranger.  
"Where you off to?" Mical questioned innocently. Bao-Dur grimaced. He was probably the first Zabrak the two had ever seen.  
"Dantari...Planes?" He replied, unsure.  
"Oh, come on, follow me. I know where that is. I'm from here" Trija announced proudly.  
"Right," Bao-Dur sighed. The last thing he wanted right now was to show up at the camp with two little kids in tow. What would his friends say? He'd hear no end of it.

Bao-Dur and Mical followed a chattering Trija, who talked nearly the whole way to Dantari Planes. A moment of quiet was blissful. Bao-Dur now knew what his mother meant by "silence is golden".  
"And, that's our Enclave. We got to be extra quiet when we go past here, so no talking, Mical." She shushed the almost silent little boy impatiently as they trekked over yet another hill. The blush from earlier on had started to wear off Mical's cheeks. Bao-Dur felt a small pang of sympathy for him, but Mical looked happy to be with two people who didn't tease or bully him. Bao-Dur felt someone tapping his forearm. He looked down to see the child Trija wanting his attention. She pointed a small arm to the horizon. It was possible to see some sort of fence in the distance. Tall and wooden with a cheery sign. Bao-Dur raised his eyebrows inquisitively.  
"That's Dantari Zed Camp," Trija informed him half-heartedly "Where all the noisy Zabraks are." Bao-Dur chuckled at this. He had heard that the year before that, there had been some sort of juma-fueled party. He was partially looking forward to that side of camp.  
"Thanks, kid," he laughed, relieved, swinging his bag over his shoulder "Thanks for the help. Both of you. I might see you again, who knows, eh?" Trija laughed for the final time and smiled up at him.  
"We'll come to your camp," Trija told him "We like Juma Juice!" Bao-Dur laughed again and rolled his eyes. He began towards the camp in the distance. He heard them whispering behind him.  
"Bye, Mr Horny Man!" Mical yelled, always innocent. He heard a sound like someone being elbowed in the ribs. He could still hear them as he moved further and further away from them.  
"What was that for?"  
"You don't know?"  
"That wasn't nice-"  
"Who cares!"  
"I'm telling Master Kavar!"  
"I'll tell him that you ran away!"  
"Bully!"  
"I'm going to catch youuu!"

He thought to himself. He didn't know if he did want to meet those kids again. They were a bit too crazy for him. Plus, they were going to be Jedi. And he knew from history and hearing about other's past experiences that Tech Specialists, especially the Zabrak ones, did not often cross paths with Jedi. It didn't matter, anyway. If those kids came to his camp and introduced themselves to his friends, he'd kill them anyway. And there was probably going to be girls at the camp, too. Oh, no. Those bothersome kids were going to stay away if Bao-Dur could do anything about it.


End file.
